


A King's Rest

by Nonesane



Category: Shades of Magic - V. E. Schwab
Genre: Aftercare, Bondage, Dom/sub, M/M, Panic Attacks, Subdrop, Wax Play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-20 16:29:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17026155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nonesane/pseuds/Nonesane
Summary: Rhy, caught up in the hard work of ruling, needs help to relax. Alucard does his best to assist.





	A King's Rest

**Author's Note:**

  * For [torakowalski](https://archiveofourown.org/users/torakowalski/gifts).



"Your Highness."  
  
Rhy took his time looking up from the map, pinning the offending lordling with what he hoped was a stern glare the right side of angry. When the man in question paled he let himself relax a fraction.  
  
"Y-your Majesty," the man said, wringing his hands, "my apologies."  
  
Allowing himself a smile, Rhy answer: "That is quite all right, Lord Tendel. What were you about to say?"  
  
He did his best to listen to the long-winded explanation that followed. He really did. Three months ago he would have done his best to avoid any meeting like this one, where the tension lay as thick as mist in the room and all present did their best to talk without truly saying what they meant. But these days he couldn't afford to avoid anything unpleasant. He had a country to rule, and rulers couldn't sneak out for a night on the town.  
  
"What about our forces to the east?"  
  
"Our _allies_ have promised to send men and supplies within a fortnight."  
  
Such cheerful banter permeated the council room for a good three hours. Rhy did his best to keep on his feet, keep up, keep together. A king didn't flinch at news of border skirmishes or the thought of his brother being out there in the world, outside the safety of home, possibly in the middle of privateer waters. A ruler didn't let slip any signs of insubordination and Rhy watched for them with the nervous energy of a cat eyeing a rat nest.  
  
Luckily, there were few. Other than Lord Tendel there were no more slip-ups this day, no more "Your Highness"-es or "Prince Rhy"-s. Though if there had been, he couldn't truly blame them. How could he, when thinking of himself as king felt as foreign and wrong as the reminder that Kell was nowhere to be found in the castle?  
  
_Not forever,_ Rhy reminded himself as he awaited the next meeting. Kell had mentioned a visit in his last letter, among vivid descriptions of foreign cities and complaints about Delilah Bard's escapades. Rhy could read between the lines well enough to tell the complaints were fond, more in jest or to keep up appearances than actual displeasure. It was good to feel he still knew his brother that well, despite all that had happened.  
  
Servants and nobles alike smiled at him as he passed them in the hall. With the castle out of mourning and the city outside as back to its ordinary self as it could be, people had begun to act the way they'd used to when Rhy had been heir to the throne and not seated upon it.  
  
Still, there was that gnawing feeling at the back of his mind. It took a nibble out of him each time someone slipped up regarding his title or he found himself outside Kell's empty chambers.  
  
"Your Majesty?"  
  
Rhy blinked and did his best to smile at the concerned look the Duchess of Kantera gave him. "Ah, I fear I am a little distracted today. You were saying about the...fabric trade?"  
  
"Yes," she said, the concern lingering. "The merchant guilds have requested a meeting regarding next year's taxes."  
  
"Noted."  
  
He kept drifting like that throughout the afternoon, falling in and out of conversations with courtiers and servants alike. This involuntary inattention fueled itself, spiraling down and pulling Rhy's already low mood with it. Frustration gave way to anxiety which gave way to dread, build out of second-guessing and self-doubt.  
  
Dinner, his usual breath of fresh air, had to be taken in his study as he went through all the correspondence he'd been forced to put off due to the war council. _And we're not even at war._  
  
The cold dread followed him into the late evening, curled in his belly like a snake.  
  
"We wish Your Majesty a good night's rest."  
  
Rhy waved off his guards, too tired to pay them much attention. The fact that they hadn't checked his chambers before he entered told him there was relief to be found in there instead of simple solitude.  
  
The chambers still felt new. Unlike many new things in his life, however, this was a good kind of change. He'd brought over enough furniture from his old rooms to feel at home, but the differences added in staved off painful nostalgia as well as called attention to a comforting fact: these weren't only his chambers.  
  
Familiar arms wrapped around his waist, pulling him into a tight and secure embrace.  
  
"Good evening, my king." Alucard's lips were a finger's breadth from Rhy's ear, each word accompanied by a puff of warm breath that sent shivers down his spine. "You look in need of some relaxation. Why don't you lie down." Warm hands moved to his shoulders and began to steer him. He let Alucard usher him along, turn him around and push him down on the bed.  
  
As Alucard stripped him and straddled his hips some of the tension seeped out of Rhy's shoulders. Out of habit, he rested his hands by his head, leaving himself open for whatever Alucard had in store. "You wouldn't believe the day I've had."  
  
Alucard put a hand over Rhy's mouth, the gentle pressure pushing Rhy further into the bed and his own mind. "I think you've done enough talking for today." A gentle order, but an order nonetheless.  
  
Rhy thought about playing at defiance, but exhaustion pushed that idea aside. _Another time._  
  
"I want you to stay still and quiet." The hand moved from Rhy's mouth and he let out a gasp as Alucard shifted his weight in the most delicious of ways, reaching for something out of sight. "Can you do that for me?"  
  
A lethargic sense of weight had begun to sneak into his limbs, but Rhy still hesitated. The dread still curled inside of him, twisting and searching for a way to circle his heart. He shook his head.  
  
For a heartbeat, Rhy feared Alucard would move away, give up and go back to the chambers he rarely used. But of course, he didn't. Of course. _I'm being such a child today._  
  
"I guess I'll have to assist you then." A wicked edged touched Alucard's smile and he leaned forward once more, putting gentle pressure on Rhy's naked groin. Rhy bit back a moan and did his best to keep still. With Alucard's hair like a curtain around their heads he couldn't see what came next, though he suspected.  
  
"Now," Alucard said and took hold of Rhy's left wrist, "I will secure you to this here bed and have my way with you until you beg for release. There are some lovely candles burning by the window that I've saved just for you." Soft rope looped around Rhy's wrist, no doubt tied with a complex sailor's knot. Their lips almost brushed as Alucard spoke: "I do so love the desperation in your eyes when you're left at my mercy. Where should I start?" he asked as his hands sought out Rhy's other wrist. "Your chest, perhaps? Your thighs? Or shall we be bolder?"  
  
Rhy let himself be bound. He waited for the calm and warmth that should accompany the restraints around his wrists. It trickled in, at a slow and steady pace. His limbs grew yet heavier, his arms relaxed and stopped tugging against the restraints, and for the first time that day he felt calm.  
  
Safe.  
  
That was the moment Alucard stood up and left the bed.  
  
Rhy's breath caught in his throat. He did his best to hide this mistake, clamped his jaw shut and fixed his gaze on the dark red of the baldaquin above. They'd done this before, all of it, and it had been more than enjoyable. So why had the ropes around his wrist gone from feeling like safety to feeling like a trap? _What's wrong with me?_  
  
Alucard appeared at the end of the bed, armed with one broad red candle that lit up his face from below in a most eerie fashion. The flickering of the flame cast shadows that pulled forth old ghost tales from Rhy's childhood memories. The length of the bed suddenly seemed an ocean of space between the two of them.  
  
Alucard opened his mouth as if to speak, but he paused before words left his lips. A frown creased his brow and it stung Rhy like a dagger. Whatever he saw in Rhy's expression, it made him blow out the candle.  
  
Rhy's insides twisted. He'd messed up. He'd _asked_ for this and now he was failing at something so old and sweet between them.  
  
It took him a second to realize the strange staccato exhales and inhales were coming from him. Alucard appeared above him as if by magic, catching his eyes with a look of worry that mirrored most other looks Rhy had received that day.  
  
The dread shifted inside of him, slithering higher, aiming its fangs for his heart. He gasped for breath. He meant to say that he just needed a minute, that there was no need to stop, but all that came out was: "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'msorryI'msorry!"  
  
The ropes slackened, knots pulled apart with speed equal to how deftly they'd been tied. Rhy would have protested if Alucard hadn't held on to his wrists, securing them as surely as the rope had.  
  
Alucard kissed each of his fingers as the rope pulled away from his wrists, soft gentle touches that grounded Rhy. "Breathe for me, love. Even breaths. That's it."  
  
The feather-light kisses continued down the back of one hand before shifting to the next. Alucard's fingers remained wrapped around Rhy's wrists and he'd returned to straddling Rhy. His weight bore down on Rhy's thighs, securing him to the bed.  
  
Gradually, Rhy got himself under control. "Oh fuck."  
  
"Are you back with me, love?" Rhy blinked away tears – brought on more by lack of air than actual sadness – and focused his attention on the beautiful face above him, marred by worry. Not an expression anyone's lover should have to wear in the bedroom.  
  
"I'm sorry," he said, heart a little lighter at the look of relief this called to Alucard's features, partly chasing away the concern.  
  
His own relief began truly when Alucard settled down on top of him, anchoring him as surely as a ship brought out of a storm. "Don't be. If anyone should be sorry here, it's me. I should have-"  
  
Head still foggy, Rhy let that comment go unanswered. He instead cut it short by capturing Alucard's lips in a long, slow kiss. His racing heart slowed with it, soothed by the strong arms and legs that boxed him in, the secure weight distributed all over his body. Rhy had seen, and bedded, many a person with wider shoulders and thicker arms than Alucard, but in this, that hardly mattered. _It's not size, it's what you do with it,_ he thought, admittedly still teetering on the edge of hysteria.  
  
The massage Alucard had begun continued tentatively, fingers finding pressure points at the base of Rhy's neck and in the middle of his palms. At last the pleasant heaviness returned, letting him relax in earnest under Alucard's ministrations.  
  
"I thought we agreed on not getting into arguments over guilt,” he said once he found his voice again. He flinched at how raspy the words came out.  
  
"Didn't you start this one?"  
  
"Hush."  
  
Alucard kissed his temple and drew him in yet closer, warmth surrounding him and supporting him. He'd shifted so he lay with his chest pressed against Rhy's back, his chin resting on Rhy's shoulder with his lips next to Rhy's ear.  
  
"We do need to talk about this."  
  
In a distant sort of way, Rhy agreed. His eyelids were heavy. "Mmhmm."  
  
"You're a good king."  
  
That non sequitur pulled at Rhy's consciousness, demanded he stay awake a few moments longer. "What?"  
  
Alucard's grip on him grew tighter as he tried to turn around and he heard the silent message as well as if it had been spoken. He settled for glancing over his shoulder, remaining in Alucard's secure hold while still meeting his eyes.  
  
"I know you're worried about what they all think of you." Alucard's words rushed straight for the heart of the matter, drawing a wince from Rhy. His grip didn't loosen. "They still love you, Rhy. The people and the court both."  
  
"The people-"  
  
The interruption earned him a sharp nip on the ear. "Don't you argue with me. I've traveled the seas, Your Majesty. I've seen my fair share of cities and know my way around both news and gossip. What do you think I do all day while you sit in important meetings?"  
  
"Plot wicked things to do in our bedchambers?"  
  
"Partly." The smile that accompanied that word was a warm one. "But I also make myself useful to the court, in what ways I can. Unrest and infighting is the last thing any of us need, so I've done my best to keep track of malcontents. You'd be surprised how few such your realm contains."  
  
Rhy began to shake his head and once more Alucard stilled him, grasping his wrists and pulling them up to cross over his chest. "I am not telling you pretty lies to please you, love. I'm telling you the truth."  
  
The truth remained a fragile topic between them. But while Alucard certainly had avoided truth before that was not the same thing as telling an outright lie.  
  
"You are good," Alucard whispered against his neck, "and you are clearly in need of rest. We can finish this," another gentle squeeze of his wrists, "tomorrow night."  
  
Rhy did feel close to sleep. He would have let himself drift off, if not for the knowledge that he'd broken a promise. "You're not...disappointed?"  
  
"In you? Never."  
  
Having heard those words, Rhy knew he'd get a good night's rest. Which was fortunate. Now that he'd had a glimpse of Alucard's plans, he suspected he'd need all his strength to keep up with his lover's machinations. The candles and rope was likely only the tip of a wonderful iceberg of challenges.  
  
And that knowledge made him go smiling into sleep.


End file.
